This article presents results from the particulate monitoring campaign conducted at Qalabotjha in South Africa during the winter of 1997. Combustion of D-grade domestic coal and low-smoke fuels were compared in a residential neighborhood to evaluate the extent of air quality improvement by switching household cooking and heating fuels. Comparisons are drawn… (More)

The ability to determine the prey-specific biomass intake of large predators is fundamental to their conservation. In the absence of actual prey data, researchers generally use a “unit mass” method (estimated as 3/4 adult female mass) to calculate the biomass intake of predators. However, differences in prey preference and range across geographic regions… (More)

Management zones feature prominently in conservation planning, particularly at large spatial scales, but prioritization of areas of concern is required to focus efforts and limited resources. Human-mediated mortality constitutes a major threat to species persistence, particularly for widespread carnivores that undergo harvest and population control, such as… (More)

Leopards do not preferentially favour baboons as prey, but they are considered the primary predators of baboons across Africa. Even in areas where baboons are abundant, their contribution to leopard diet seldom exceeds 5% of biomass. It is suggested that the extreme aggressiveness of baboons, group vigilance and their high mobility when escaping may limit… (More)

Rodent pests are especially problematic in terms of agriculture and public health since they can inflict considerable economic damage associated with their abundance, diversity, generalist feeding habits and high reproductive rates. To quantify rodent pest impacts and identify trends in rodent pest research impacting on small-holder agriculture in the… (More)

Predation strategies in response to altering prey abundances can dramatically influence the demographic effects of predation. Despite this, predation strategies of humans are rarely incorporated into quantitative assessments of the demographic impacts of humans killing carnivores. This scarcity largely seems to be caused by a lack of data. In this study, we… (More)